


Before the Sky Falls Down

by rockmilkshake



Series: Fear and Metal in Montana [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Injury, Gen, Heavy Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29290188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockmilkshake/pseuds/rockmilkshake
Summary: Green Hills is lost. Home is no longer safe.On the horizon of the conquering epidemic, Sonic tries to find it within himself to do what he must and stop Robotnik from spreading the metal virus. But with the weight of the safety of his family and the fate of thousands upon his shoulders, will he be able to stand tall in the storm that comes?
Relationships: Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik & Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog & Agent Stone, Sonic the Hedgehog & Hope, Sonic the Hedgehog & Maddie Wachowski, Sonic the Hedgehog & Topaz, Sonic the Hedgehog & Wade Whipple
Series: Fear and Metal in Montana [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697470
Comments: 7
Kudos: 18





	Before the Sky Falls Down

**Author's Note:**

> I am impulse copy-posting most of this from my Word doc at 8 pm because it will take too long for this to come out if I try to finish the whole thing first. I promised a sequel to Too Much almost 10 months ago and you will have it, dammit! 
> 
> Enjoy~

Sonic was curled up in the thin sheets and blankets of the small bed. He had pulled the covers over his head, the quills making the blanket strain tighter on his head.

The room he was in was small and rather empty. The carpeted floor was clear except for a stuffed red backpack in the corner, along with a sandwich that was growing stale on its paper plate. And it had one curtained window which was the only thing lighting up the orange-colored room.

It had been one whole week since he had run to the demolished and ruined town of Green Hills. He could remember the whole ordeal, vividly. The memories would sharply interrupt whatever dreams he was having when he slept.

He had always had terrible dreams. Dreams about losing his family, about being abandoned for what he was, about hurting those around him. But the memories in his dreams only made it worse…because one of those fears had come true.

Sonic squeezed his eyes shut.

_I didn’t want him to… why did he do that…_

_Cause you made him._

Sonic pulled the sheets tighter.

_No…he loved me. He didn’t want me to see him go. That’s why…_

_And probably because you were the one who touched him and got him inf-_

Sonic pushed his face into the pillow and made a muffled noise of anger.

“Stop it.” He muttered into the pillow.

He was so tired and emotionally exhausted, he had barely any motivation to be angry with himself.

He still had the numb feeling he had started feeling at the start of the second week of the outbreak. He hated it. Numb meant he was used to it. That it was normal. It wasn’t. It had only been two weeks since he got infected. He didn’t want it to feel normal

He sighed and rolled onto his back, head propped on his thick quills, and stared at the white ceiling.

After escaping Green Hills, he, Wade, and Maddie drove to the nearest quarantine down in Idaho. He ran off the virus and put on a scarf to hide his face and a small beanie to cover his ears before they headed in.

Maddie wanted Sonic to stay with her and Wade but the government guards, recognizing Sonic as a juvenile, told them Sonic would have to stay with the other children in a separate quarantine. It didn’t make sense to any of them. Maddie argued with the soldiers, telling them how the kid, Sonic, had been through hell and she wanted them all to stay together, with Wade joining in, arguing just as angrily.

But, in the end, they both gave in. Maddie and Wade reluctantly said goodbye to Sonic as he was escorted, reluctantly as well, by the soldiers to the children’s quarantine.

The children’s “quarantine section”, if you could even call it that, was a good place. It was an old house from the 80s that had been abandoned by its original owner. It was a very rectangular building with a lot of guest bedrooms, windows, and warm color themes, as well as enough tables for all of them to dine on.

As for the children, everyone there was relatively nice and good-natured. Most of them were teens and pre-teens with a few young preschoolers in the mix. Many kids were stressed about the virus, a couple had lashed out at others in Sonic’s time spent around them, but they would always apologize in the end.

Sonic hadn’t socialized much in his time there, but he appreciated the company of the children, particularly a girl named Hope. She was a bit bossy, and sarcastic, but overall, a good friend and person to talk to.

Maddie and Wade promised him they would visit him in the section. They hadn’t visited him once.

_They’re afraid of you, that’s why._

Sonic smacked his face again.

_No, don’t be stupid,_ he thought, _they’re not afraid of me. The kids here aren’t afraid of me. Why should Maddie or Wade be?_

The other children in the section had realized something was up with Sonic by his second day there. He would often stay in his room, but when he was out, they noticed how he flinched whenever someone ran too fast, came too close, or touched him. And a few of them apparently heard him getting up in the middle of the night to run off the virus. The sounds of him zooming around on the walls were enough to keep some up.

A couple of older kids, along with Hope, had confronted him about this on the fourth day. And so, he told them that, one, he was not human, two, he was infected, and three, he could fight the virus. He decided that he could trust at least a few people with that info.

And then they all informed the rest of the kids.

Sonic was affronted by their disclosure and momentarily terrified at the reveal. But, surprisingly, the kids didn’t want him gone afterward. Some kids avoided him afterward and were nervous around him, no matter how well they tried to hide it, but they all understood it was a stressful situation for any kid to go through, and throwing him out would be a terrible thing to do. They even made a habit of reminding him when to take naps, eat, or run off the virus.

He was very touched by this…but he was still fearful. If he infected any of them…

_Why don’t you just run away? Like you always have…_

Sonic vigorously rubbed his hands on his face.

_Stop it. **Stop it.**_

He heard the door to his room creak open.

“Sonic?”

Sonic didn’t respond. It was Hope, and she would come in whether he wanted her to or not.

He watched the door open and saw her walk in. Hope wore an orange sweater, black overalls, and black mechanic gloves. Gloves had become a necessity since the metal virus outbreak on Earth. She looked around the room slowly, before her gaze fell upon the increasingly stale sandwich. “You still didn’t eat your sandwich.”

Sonic groaned. “I wasn’t hungry, Hope,” he grumbled.

“Suuuure,” Hope said sarcastically “just like you weren’t hungry last night for dinner.”

Sonic tiredly glared at her.

“Look, dude, you have to eat something.” She said seriously “You can’t just starve yourself to death. Besides, it’s wasting food. And you’re _still_ wearing the same jacket from when you got here. You should really change out of it.” He rolled over in bed, avoiding her gaze.

Hope huffed and didn’t speak for a moment, before asking. “You got something on your mind?”

Sonic wasn’t sure how to answer that. He wanted to say a lot of things. He was depressed, he was sad, he was angry at himself, he was tired…but, no, she didn’t need to hear all that.

“’s nothing…” he said, “I don’t wanna talk about it right now.”

Hope just stood there, silently looking at the hedgehog.

She sighed. “Alright.”

They were both quiet.

“How’s your infection?” She asked softly.

Sonic blinked.

“ ** _Oh._** ” He said, quickly sitting up in the bed. “ **Right** , should, uh, probably check on that.”

He had somewhat dissociated from the cold feeling in his legs. But now being properly brought back to Earth, he felt that most of it was on his left arm and spreading to his chest. Very sparse in other areas of his body.

“Alright, seems I’m good for now!” he said, attempting to sound cheerful.

Hope frowned “But…you didn’t even check.” She said.

“Yeah, but I can recognize the…the f-feeling,” he replied, stuttering slightly on that word “and I took a run a couple of minutes ago, so I’ll be good for now!” and he smiled.

Hope stared at him, somewhat unconvinced. “Relax, Hope. I’m fine right now!” Sonic said reassuringly.

Hope sighed again. “Okay…that’s good.” She clapped her hands together and smiled “So! Now that that’s covered, how about you and I go out to the kitchen and maybe get some _food_ for-“

She paused.

Sonic heard it too.

The sound of a large vehicle driving in.

Hope turned towards the door and opened it, looking serious. “Stay here.” She said quietly. And she left, quickly closing the door behind her.

Sonic felt his skin crawl. There hadn’t been many cars driving in throughout the week. This felt like a bad omen.

_It’s probably not anything bad, right?_ he thought nervously to himself.

Sonic sat there, feeling tense.

_Aw, to heck with it_ , he thought, lifting the sheets and swinging his legs out of the bed, _it can’t be anything too bad!_

_\---------------------------------------------_

It was very bad.

Sonic was peeking through the window with the other kids. And what he could see made his heart drop.

It was a giant truck, absent of Robotnik’s red and black motif, fortunately, and many armed military soldiers were coming out and surrounding the truck.

Sonic felt fear keeping him on the spot, only coming out of the trance after feeling a tug on his jacket sleeve. He whipped his head to his left to see Hope, looking angry. _“What are you doing?”_ She said in an angry whisper. “You’re supposed to be in your room!”

He turned back to the window; eyes full of fear. Hope looked confused. “What? What’s wrong?” She asked concernedly. He was going to answer until he noticed two people making their way towards the house.

**“Aah!”** He ducked down under the windowsill. Hope quickly closed the curtains. “ _Dude_ , what is it?” Hope asked confused.

Sonic looked at her, fearful. “I…I have to hide somewhere. If they find me, th-they’ll do experiments on me o-or something! They’ll take me away from…from…” he stuttered.

He looked towards the front door, dreading what would come through it. Hope just stared at him.

“I…I can’t let those p-people find me…not now…” his voice shaking and wracked with fear “I can’t let them turn me into a-a lab rat or…”

Hope grabbed his arm and pulled him off the ground. She dragged him away from the door. “Alright, come on, dude,” she said, “let’s hide you upstairs!”

She started leading him away from the crowd of the other children, all of them trying to see out the windows. Sonic stared at Hope, taken aback by this sudden course of action, but made no objections.

“There’s lots of storage rooms and plenty of closets on the second floor.” Hope spoke, slightly hurriedly “You’ll have plenty of choices on where to hide and plenty of chances to get away from them!”

They both headed up the stairs.

\-----------------------------------------

Hiding, funny enough, felt easier and less nerve-wracking when there weren’t any flying drones searching his hiding place.

Sonic was slowly wandering around the dark, box-filled room. It had one window, with grey light coming in through the paper-thin curtains. He peaked in some of the boxes, hoping to find one he could squeeze into and hide, while he strained his hearing to the talking downstairs.

Admittedly, running away would be faster but…

No, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t run away this time. He wasn’t a coward…

Hope was heading back downstairs as he heard the front door open.

It was growing quieter and quieter down there, the kid's general conversing dying down.

The two people he had seen coming out of the truck had definitely entered the building now.

Sonic felt the trepidation making him cold and stiff. They wouldn’t find him. He was too fast to be found. But still…

He heard someone talking in the main room, a calm man’s voice. Sonic could barely hear what he was saying. He heard someone else speaking but couldn’t make out what they said either. _Yeah…that’s gotta be the people I saw walking towards the house_ , he thought.

_They’re probably asking for me._

_But they wouldn’t ask for you! They don’t know you’re here…_

_…right?_

Coming back to Earth, he could hear two people walking, the sound getting closer. But then he heard Hope’s clear voice.

“No one sleeps up there.” Hope was speaking in a casual, raised voice. “You won’t find anything in those old rooms ‘cept boxes and old storage.”

The footsteps paused. “Why would you say that if you weren’t trying to hide something?” the calm man’s voice asked. “I just want you guys to leave.” He heard Hope reply, nonchalantly. Sonic chuckled slightly at that.

It was silent. And then footsteps started up the stairs.

Sonic froze up. He stalked away from the door and behind the cardboard boxes.

They were walking down the hallway now, drawing closer.

One stopped. He heard the two people exchange whispers to each other. They were going to different rooms.

Sonic hitched his breath as the door opened, light flowing in.

The government official slowly stepped into the room, making sure to avoid the small items and trinkets littering the floor. _And they’re armed for sure,_ Sonic thought.

Sure enough, as they closed the door behind them and stepped into the window light, they were holding a loaded tranq gun.

_Won’t be hit by that a second time,_ Sonic thought to himself, smirking.

He slowly edged around the wall of boxes, making sure his feet didn’t make audible sounds against the floor. The agent was very alert but didn’t seem to hear a thing. He kept shifting along. He was so close to the door now, the knob just a little outside his reach. As long as they didn’t turn around-

A sudden knocking at the door and Sonic flinched. “Anything, Agent Topaz?”

The other agent with the calm voice was right outside the door. Sonic crouched down and his ears drooped. This could make things a little risky.

“Nothing yet, Agent Stone,” Topaz replied, steadily. “But…I have an idea.”

She went silent.

Sonic felt foreboding and fear slowing him down. He couldn’t see the agent properly. She was just standing still.

_What is she-_

**_BANG!_ **

****

Sonic yelped and covered his head. A bullet had shot through the boxes and pinged off the wall.

Realizing his mistake just too late, he scrambled to the door and reached for the knob. But he wasn’t fast enough. He felt a sting in his ankle and cried out, legs giving out from underneath him. The door opened and he fell through.

He felt a familiar sensation of dizziness and nausea. But it seemed to be hitting him harder than the first time. His legs were quickly going numb. His vision was going in and out of focus very fast. All he could see now was the hallway and the shoes of the other agent.

“N-no…no,” He whispered desperately as he heard Agent Topaz draw closer. He tried to lift himself up on his arms, but his arms were too weak and gave way. The dart’s effects were coming on so fast.

He wanted to run, crawl, anything to get away, but his legs weren’t responding.

_“P…please,”_ he pleaded in a small, cracking voice _“don’t…take me…”_

His vision was going dark. He could barely lift his head anymore.

_“Tom…Maddie…”_

_\----------------------------------------------------------_

He was barely awake.

He could hear people.

People shouting.

“-there is no need for language.”

“ _I don’t give a crap_ , you tranqed him! You want him because he’s an alien!”

“Listen, Miss-”

“ _Hope!_ And I sure _hope_ that you keep your _freaking_ noses in your _own stinkin’_ _business!”_

“Miss Hope, we understand that you’re angry but you see, that’s not a child you’re holding-“

_“FOURTEEN_ IS A STILL A CHILD! AND STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM LIKE HE’S NOT A PERSON!”

Sonic winced and started blinking, attempting to adjust his eyes to the light.

He was being carried in someone’s arms. He looked up and saw Hopes face.

“Hope…?”

She caught his eye. _“Sonic.”_ She said, relieved. “ _Hah…phew!_ _Good!_ Glad the walnut brains didn’t _kill you.”_

“We already told you he _wasn’t dead_ ,” Agent Topaz said, exasperatedly, “I just _shot him in the ankle.”_

Sonic took a moment to observe the scene.

There were many kids behind Hope, some watching her in awe and others reflecting her defiant resistance to Sonic being taken. And in front of Hope, the two agents were standing there, the one called Stone keeping his composure while the one named Topaz seemed to be losing hers, running her fingers through her short tan-brown hair. Their suits were both slightly ruffled, as though someone had grabbed them roughly.

Hope was glaring at them both.

“Hey, uh, Hope,” Sonic said, somewhat weakly “as _much fun_ as it is to be carried, do you mind putting me down?”

Hope nodded firmly. She yelled over her shoulder “Any free chairs here? I got myself arms full of hog!”

Sonic winced at her loud volume. One of the kids quickly moved a chair towards Hope. “Thanks, Jonny.” She said. She deposited Sonic onto the wooden chair.

Sonic took a second to steady himself on the chair, his dangling legs still feeling like numb jello. The nausea effects also hadn’t worn off yet, so gravity wasn’t his best friend at the moment.

After getting comfortable upon his seat, he looked at the two agents, brows furrowed. Hope stood next to him; arms crossed.

They were all silent.

Agent Topaz broke the quiet first. “Alright then, you have a name. Sonic, was it?” Sonic slowly bowed his head in a nod. “And…how old are you, actually?” She inquired.

Sonic blinked slowly and answered. “What Hope said. Fourteen years old.”

Topaz bit her lip and she put her hand on her mouth. Her brow furrowed. It seemed like that info changed the situation. Agent Stone merely made a slight frown. “Really.” He said doubtfully.

_“Yes.”_ Sonic said firmly. “The quarantine guards realized I was a kid. What, do you guys not know what kids look like?”

Topaz frowned at this. “You could’ve been lying. And besides, you’re an unidentified species. Your aging process may be different.”

“Well, _no_ , it’s not,” Sonic said. “Now can you tell me what you want me for?”

Topaz and Stone exchanged looks. They turned back to Sonic. Stone spoke. “May we explain this out of the house?”

Hope shook her head. “Nope. He’s not going anywhere.”

Topaz groaned and said, “Look, Miss Hope, we understand your concern, but we can’t be talking about…our matters around children.” Hope shrugged. “Well, fun fact: I don’t care.”

Sonic raised his hand for Hope to stop talking. “Hold on one second. What’s so important that I need to be alone with you guys?”

Agent Stone stared, unflinching. Topaz looked apprehensive.

“You wanna take me away and use me as a guinea pig, don’t you?” Sonic said with venom in his voice. “You wanna see what makes me tick! That’s why you sent that _Robotnik guy_ the first time, _right?”_

Agent Stone twitched. “Listen, if we can just speak to you-“

“With the history that me and the government have got, we’re pretty well past calm conversation at this point!” Sonic raised his voice.

Stone stopped speaking.

“And besides,” Sonic continued, chuckling darkly “it’s a little too late if you wanted to experiment on me.”

Stone and Topaz both frowned, confused.

But then Topaz said, as though catching on to a joke “Oh. Right, of course.”

Sonic raised his eyebrow.

“Let me guess. You’ve been infected. Is that right? Is that why we should leave you alone?”

Sonic was surprised. She had guessed right but… _the mocking tone._

_Does she not believe me?_

Stone let go of his held breath and said, annoyed, “Mr. Sonic, you cannot joke about that kind of stuff in an epidemic outbreak.”

_What?!_

Sonic gripped his seat, bared his teeth, and growled. _“I’m not joking.”_

Stone sighed. “Kid, plenty of people have lied about being infected so that they can-“

**“I’m not lying!”** Sonic yelled.

“If you _were_ infected before we came here,” Topaz forcefully interrupted “it would be up to your face right-“

Sonic quickly took off the puffy jacket and pulled up his right shirt sleeve.

****

**_“LOOK AT ME!”_ **

****

His shout left a deafening silence behind. Hope was looking frightened by Sonics' anger. Topaz’s eyes were wide, and her brows furrowed; her mouth slightly open. Stone looked gravely concerned.

The arm was fully infected. Metallic, light blue, and shining with a gaudy brilliance.

Sonic was breathing heavily.

He scrunched down his sleeve and pulled at the collar of the shirt, showing it manifesting up to his neck. It felt terribly cold and it almost hurt to breathe.

He stopped tugging at his shirt collar and spoke, voice shaking with anger. _“Did that look like a lie to you?”_

Hope didn’t speak.

The agents stared silently.

Nobody moved.

Stone swallowed and asked, tentatively, “How…how is it spreading that slowly?”

Sonic continued glaring. “My speed.” He stated stiffly.

Stone looked confused. “Could you...elaborate?”

_“I don’t know why,”_ The hedgehog continued rigidly, “ _but running_ makes it go away. But even _then_ , it only works with _me_ because of my _speed_. I _don’t know_ the logistics!”

Topaz gathered her composure and said, “Alright…how long have you been fighting the virus?”

Sonics winced and quickly averted his gaze to the floor. All sorts of memories flew through his mind at the question. Knuckles’ disappearance, the Chaotix surrounded by infected, South Islands nature lifelessly shining, Tom…

“Sonic?”

Sonic looked over at Hope. She looked confused and worried.

He looked at her for a few seconds, then shook his head. His gaze shifted back to the floor.

“’Bout two weeks,” he mumbled.

“The outbreaks have been going on for under two weeks.” Stone said. “I’m _tired_ ,” Sonic replied irritably “so _sorry_ if I’m not telling the time correctly right now.”

Topaz took a moment to observe him properly.

“Has your infection prevented you from getting proper sleep?” She inquired.

Sonic looked at her with an irritated, half-lidded stare, his eye-bags clear as day, and said “ _Gee,_ what tipped you off?”

Topaz pursed her lips. It seemed she didn’t know where to go from there.

Stone was apprehensive as well.

The room's awkward tension seemed to stretch the minutes.

Sonic just sat there, shivering slightly as he felt the cold infection spreading up to his jaw and his right shoulder.

_No big deal…yet._

Stone looked back towards the door, looking like he was short for time. He turned back around. “Right, look,” he said, urgency in his voice. “can we step outside and talk? We don’t have that much time on our hands-“

“First, tell me **why** you want me if not for experiments,” Sonic said firmly “I’m not leaving with you guys unless you give me a one _really. Good._ _Reason.”_

Stone and Topaz exchanged glances.

Stone turned back with a stiff face and said, reluctantly “Fine. The government knows all about the previous incident you had with Robotnik and we know of your power.”

Sonic said nothing.

“And you’re the reason he went AWOL,” Topaz added, “so…we want to collaborate with you in order to stop him.”

Silence followed.

Sonic just stared with the same half-lidded, annoyed look. “You want me. To work with you. To stop Robotnik.”

Stone stared back at him. “I assume you’re not willing.”

Sonic, expression unchanged, straightened. “No no no, don’t get me wrong, I _do_ want to stop him.” He said, reaffirming the point. “But working with the people who sent the mad scientist after me _in the first place_ does **not** sound like a good idea to me.”

“I am _sorry_ , **what?”**

Hope spoke up, and everyone’s attention collectively locked on to her.

“ _Powers? Previous_ incident? _Mad scientist?”_ She asked, incredulously, arms still crossed.

_“What previous incident?”_ asked another kid. “What’s all that supposed to mean?” yelled another. Sonic shrank slightly in the chair, trying to take any attention away from himself.

“Right, no, we’re not going to-," Topaz said, attempting to surmount this obviously confidential information revealing conversation. “Here, let’s just…”

She walked over to Sonic and, grabbing him by his arms, attempted to lift him off the chair.

“HEY!” Hope yelled.

Sonic pulled away from the agent's grip defensively “ _DON’T_ TOUCH ME.”

Many of the children started yelling in protest. Topaz drew back, surprised at the sudden negative reaction, Stone sharing her same taken aback face.

Hope stood in front of Sonic, protectively and ready to fight. Sonic just held his arms to himself and stared at the agents, affronted and almost enraged by Topaz’s attempt to pick him up.

_Like I’m a baby._

The protesting cries died down. Topaz seemed to be weighing her options, along with the tension, biting her lips.

“Alright,” She started, hesitantly “listen, Mister Sonic, may we talk in a separate room?”

Sonic shook his head. “No way! Not after you just tranqed me!”

Topaz pursed her lips again. Stone stepped forward. “Alright then, can _we_ talk? Just you and me?” he asked, “I’ve got no tranq gun or any weapons, so you won’t have to worry about getting hurt or knocked out.”

Sonic observed Agent Stone, fully under the impression that that was a lie. Stone noticed his searching look and stood still.

_He doesn’t look like he has anything on him,_ Sonic thought to himself, _maybe the guns Topaz has are the only ones they brought?_ That sounded dumb but, somehow, that seemed to be plausible.

Sonic, deciding Agent Stone wasn’t hiding anything, stopped his search and shifted himself off the chair. His legs buckled as they hit the ground.

Hope quickly picked him off the ground and put him back on his feet. He grabbed her forearm to keep himself from falling again. His legs were still regaining feeling and currently felt like numb weights. Once he was steady enough, he looked Agent Stone in the eye.

“Look…” he said, grimly “I don’t care how many or how few weapons that you have, I am not going to work with whatever stupid government plan you have!”

“Look, just- Stone,” Topaz turned to Stone “we don’t have time for this. We need to…”

“I know, I know,” Stone responded, clearly thinking for a solution.

After a moment of thinking, he spoke again.

“Alright,” he started “would it be better if we discussed this with your friend in the room?” he motioned to Hope. “It’s very important business,” he continued “but as long as she promises to not tell or repeat it to anyone, it should be okay. Would you feel safer with that?”

Sonic eyed him warily.

_He could be lying,_ he thought, _they could take her away, or maybe even…_

“Alright, sure.”

Sonic quickly looked up at Hope, confused. “What? Hope, _no,_ you-”

“Only if you’re okay with it.” she said, simply “Then I’ll be fine with it.”

Sonic stared at her.

“Besides,” she continued, raising her voice while looking towards the agents “nosy assholes like these guys don’t like to back off until they have some answers.”

Sonic didn’t say anything. He _did_ want to know what they wanted from him, but cooperating with…hell, even talking _calmly_ to government officials was the last thing he wanted to do.

But Hope was probably right. Chances were that they weren’t leaving without an answer from him.

_We could just run away-_

_No, I am **not** running away from this. _

_Not after…_

He shook himself out of his thoughts and sighed. “Okay,” he said, heavily “I’ll talk with you two. _But no guarantees on me joining in on whatever you’re planning.”_

He let go of Hope's forearm. His legs were still shaking but he was regaining feeling in them. 

“We can talk in one of the unused guest rooms,” Hope firmly spoke to the agents, now straightened, eyeing Sonic if he fell over again. “for privacy. Sound good, _agents?”_

They both nodded in response.

“Alright!” Hope swung her hands and clapped them together. “Let’s get this over with.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

He didn’t think he’d be in a situation like this. Ever.

Sitting on a dusty bed in an old guest room, across from two government agents, who

were sent because the government wanted him to work with them.

_The fucking gall of these people,_ he thought.

Hope was leaning against the wall near the doorframe, arms crossed once more, glowering at the agents. She almost looked ready to murder.

“Alright then, first question,” Agent Topaz started, pulling out a notebook “you must’ve come from somewhere other than Earth, another planet since you’re clearly an alien. So how did you get here?”

Sonic didn’t speak at first.

“I thought you were going to tell me what the government’s plan that they needed me for was,” Sonic responded in a low voice.

“We are,” Stone quickly answered, also taking a notebook out of his pocket “but we are also ordered to gather your background info. It’s only a few questions and then we’ll get to what the governors have planned out.”

Sonic huffed annoyedly.

_Prolonging assholes…liars…_

He looked away from the agents, towards the wall to his right.

“Rings…”

Topaz just stared. “Rings?” She repeated, dubiously. “Can you elaborate on that?”

Sonic rested his head on his hand, still looking away. “They’re…a means of transportation, sort of, in a way.” He mumbled, trying to think of a way to explain without making them more inquisitive “Alien technology stuff, you wouldn’t get it.”

Stone seemed intrigued. “What do they look like?”

Sonic looked at him, irritated. _“What do you think?”_

“Well, are there any defining qualities to them?” Stone continued.

Sonic thought for a moment.

“They feel…magic-y,” he said lamely. Both of the agents stared with befuddled looks on their faces. “I dunno how else to explain it to you guys,” Sonic said in a careless tone.

Topaz squinted, obviously perplexed. She slowly put the pencil to paper and started writing down notes. Stone copied this action. Sonic watched their pencil erasers wave back and forth in the air and was tempted to zip behind them to see what they were writing. But he was feeling a bit dizzy, so he didn’t act on that whim.

_Is this from the dart?_ he thought. _I thought that it would stop after like 5 minutes!_

“Okay, second question,” Stone spoke up after finishing his notes “Are there others like you? A species, or a civilization perhaps?”

Sonic’s gaze moved to Stone and he scowled at him. “Why? You wanna conquer the aliens?”

“No,” Stone calmly replied, not missing a beat. “this is mainly to see if we will need anyone to regulate any other foreign extraterrestrials coming to this planet.”

“Oooooh, I see!” Sonic said, with an air of sarcasm and indignance “you’re gonna treat people on my planet like animals that need to be rounded up in a zoo or something, right? Find a way there and invade their cities or something?”

Stone stared at him, unshaken. “So, there _is_ a civilization of others like you?”

Sonic’s eyes widened and he made a guilty face. He didn’t speak

“I’ll take your face and your lack of answer for a yes.” Stone said.

_Great job, hero, you messed that up,_ he thought angrily to himself as Stone wrote in the notebook. _Now if Amy and Tails or anyone else wounds up here, these people be ready for them! And take them in for experimenting! All because of your stupid-_

Sonic almost punched himself in the face. Sparks followed and stung his face. Both Topaz and Stone quickly looked up. Hope flinched, looking taken aback. “Dude? What- _What was that?”_

Sonic winced, feeling his face. His face was slightly singed. “I-…it’s nothing. I’m just-“ He started breathing heavily, his vision was going in and out of focus. The dizziness was becoming worse. He held his face in his hands, everything felt hotter, his stomach ached, and he was sweating. The cold infection spreading up to his cheek didn’t help the matter.

“Mr. Sonic?” Topaz called to him in an urgent voice.

Sonic took some big, steadying breaths. It seemed to almost worsen the effects on his body.

_Pull yourself together._

_I’m so tired._

_You’ve already fucked up a million times, stop acting like a child!_

_No…I’m not. I’m not a child! I just…_

_I…_

Sonic felt his heart settling…but it felt more like he was shutting down than becoming calm. And his breathing wasn’t much better either.

He slowly uncovered his face so that he could see the agents again. 

“…next question,” Sonic said quietly and hoarsely.

“Dude, are you okay?” Hope asked tentatively. She had stopped leaning on the doorway and had walked over to his side. “If you need a minute, you can step out. You got time!”

Sonic waved his hand as if to shoo her. “No, no, I’m…I’m fine, I just…” He mumbled tiredly. “…I’m alright. Let’s just get this over with.”

The Agents eyed him with something like concern in their eyes. Sonic glared at them, although the bags under his eyes and the shining metal on his face lessened the effect. And his intended expression of anger didn’t mix well with it. He just looked tired and miserable.

Stone went back to the questionnaire first.

“Right,” He said, straightening himself. “right, the government gathered Robotnik’s previous research on the Green Hills EMP,” he seemed to hesitate on the doctor’s name “and according to what they found, he figured out it was an extraterrestrial creature, you, with some strange incredible power that caused it. So…what are these powers of your supposed to be?”

Sonic just sat still for a few seconds, staring at the ground through his fingers. “I…don’t know," he muttered. “I don’t really know what it is. I just…am sort of electrical sometimes…”

“When does this power come into effect? Is it painful for you?” Stone pressed.

Sonic shook his head, regretting it immediately as it worsened his nausea. He held his head as it ached. “No…” he croaked, his voice rough “it doesn’t hurt me…it can hurt others though…”

“How does it work?”

Sonic swallowed. “It…it acts up when I’m…when I get emotional…”

He realized his vision was blurry. He blinked, but nothing came into focus. He felt strange, disconnected.

“I…I think I need a minute outside.” He quickly slipped off the bed. And started towards the door.

The previous dizziness came back sharply. A headache pounded suddenly into effect.

And he felt himself go sideways.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonic didn’t know where he was.

He felt warm everywhere except for his face and his neck, which was almost numb with cold. He was slowly becoming more aware of his senses. He was…covered with a sheet, a blanket maybe? And he was laying on something…like a mattress.

_Oh, it’s a bed._

_I’m in bed._

_…wait, how did I get here?_

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt heavy. He rolled over, trying to remember what he was doing before he ended up wherever he was.

Slowly, very slowly, Sonic lifted himself upon his arms and, once he was sitting upright, slowly opened his eyes.

He wasn’t in the kids' quarantine house anymore, that was for sure.

The room didn’t have a warm, retro color scheme. It had plain, dark blue walls and the lamp above seemed to make a monotone buzzing sound.

Sonic was slightly wary.

Where was he?

Intending to get a better idea of what kind of house he was in, he started looking around the room. But the most he got from this searching was that the room was small and not very decorated.

He looked to his left…

…and yelped in fear.

He flew back, back against the right wall.

It was only a vanity mirror.

It was what he saw in it that scared him.

He zipped out of the bed and climbed onto the chair in front of the mirror. Steadying himself, he got a clear look.

The infection always made its way up to his face one way or another. But the way it had spread now…

The shining metal had spread over the right side of his face and his eye had turned from white sclera and a green iris…to pink and a bright red.

His face, looking back at himself in the mirror, had a growing look of horror.

“No no no…”

_Just run._

_Run. It’ll fix it up fast_

_Why aren’t you moving? Come on, this is easy!_

_Running is in your nature. It’s like breathing to you!_

But breathing had become hard at the moment.

Sonic felt his heart racing inside his chest. He started feeling cold and weak. And he felt some extreme sense of unfound fear holding him still.

_What is wrong with you? RUN!_

Why was he feeling so much worse than the last time he looked in a mirror-

Green Hills. Green Hills attacked. Destroyed. Citizens infected. _Tom infected-_

**_NO!_ **

He put his hands on the edge of the table and pushed himself away, causing the chair to tumble backward from the vanity, sending him falling over and rolling onto his right side.

His breathing was getting heavier and heavier. His face was both cold and hot. His chest felt squeezed and painful. He was whimpering and crying. He kept whispering, voice cracking _“No, no, no, no, no!”_

The world was unfocused all around him. Any sound happening couldn’t be heard by him. His body didn’t feel like it was his. He couldn’t slow his light speed heart.

_Something bad is- what’s gonna happen to- am I going to d- what’s happening- oh god, oh no, oh fuck, fuck, fuck!_

His own thoughts were blurred together, fearful, and confused.

He closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands, curling up his legs. He sobbed, softly at first, into his gloves.

_No- Stop- You’re better than- What’s-_

He couldn’t pull himself together.

Only one clear thought broke through the chaos in his head.

_What’s wrong with me?_

Suddenly he felt something, someone, pulling him upright.

The hedgehog blindly tried to push away whoever was holding him, his eyes squeezed shut. Their hands held tight to his shoulders, trying to keep him still while he shook himself vigorously and trying to push them away. He could hear them speaking but didn’t process what they were saying. He was panicked and yelling and…

The person let go of his shoulders.

Sonic just hugged himself, squeezing his arms, his head tilted down hiding his face. He already felt terrible and having a witness to his meltdown was making it no better. And, god, it could be anyone from one of the agents to some other human that had no idea what he was. _God,_ he thought, _how much worse-_

“It’s okay, Sonic, it’s okay. Just take deep breaths.”

His eyes opened wide. He knew that voice.

He looked up and saw…

_Maddie..._

_It’s Maddie!_

_It’s…_

“M…mom,” He spoke, voice cracking and barely above a whisper. _“Mom…”_

Maddie sighed in slight relief. Her hair was tied back, and she was wearing a long, dark purple puffy coat. She had a worried, sympathetic look on her face. “Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” She said quietly.

Sonic thrust himself forward and shoved his head into Maddie’s chest, pulling himself into her lap and hugging her tightly. Maddie slowly wrapped her arms around him in return. Sonic relaxed his tensed back slightly at the reciprocated touch. He shook as he sobbed into Maddie’s shirt.

Maddie moved her hand up and down Sonic’s back, the hedgehog seemingly relaxing at the repeated motion. “Alright, honey, just take deep breaths. Do it with me, okay?” Sonic shifted his head, resting the right side of his head against Maddie’s chest. Hot tears still streamed down his face. “Deep breath in, can you do that?” Sonic sniffed and nodded. “Alright, follow my lead.”

Sonic felt terrible. It was hard to grasp at reality and his surroundings. It felt like the world was glass and it was going to shatter any second. He wanted to stop it, or at the very least, slow everything down.

Then he heard something.

Maddie’s heartbeat.

It was steady, rhythmic, and calming to him.

He strained to hear it better, straining for the sound that felt like a lifeboat in his current emotional state.

He started copying Maddie’s deep breathing, deep and slow.

In…out…

…in…out…

…in…out.

Slowly, his speeding heart was settling from its rapid pace. He was still breaking down, crying. But he felt…steadied. Still feeling like the world was crumbling around him, but as though the chaos had slowed.

His weak sobbing was getting quieter as the seconds passed. Maddie started petting the top of his head, an action that caused Sonic to stiffen at first until he felt that her hands were gloved. He leaned slowly into the vet’s gentle touch. His vocal cords were strained, so he just whimpered and sniffed.

“I’m right here, kid, don’t worry.” She whispered, “I’m not leaving you.”

Sonic just sat there, sobbing.

“I’m…I’m sorry.” he cracked.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Sonic, it’s okay,” Maddie said reassuringly.

Sonic didn’t agree with that statement. “I got infected first,” he started, voice quivering “I spread it on the big island back on my planet… _I didn’t mean to! I just wanted to stop him!_ And then…Knuckles, Vector, Ch-Charmy, Espio, T-… _T-T-“_

He broke back down into sobs. It was painful to think about all of them.

_You fucked up so bad-_

He squeezed his eyes hard shut.

_No. Stop._

The door to the room opened. Wade came through.

“Oh, thank god,” He said just above a whisper, looking down at the hedgehog. He walked over and crouched down. Sonic met his eyes, even though he knew he looked like a pitiable mess.

“Hey, bud,” Wade started, in a somewhat cautious tone “you alright?” Sonic shook his head slightly. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair,” Wade responded. Sonic swallowed and asked “M-mom? Where are we?”

“Adult’s quarantine,” Maddie told him “Weird idea they got for the separation. But what happened to you?”

Sonic looked down at the floor, blinking and struggling to remember. “Two government agents and one other girl came in the house with you unconscious,” Wade said, “and all they said was that you fainted.” Sonic eyes widened. “Hope?” he asked looking up.

“Yeah, that was the girl's name.” Wade answered, “But what-”

The door opened again, and the two agents were both standing there. Wade immediately stood up. “No no no! NO! Get the FUCK out of here!” he yelled.

“Mr. Whipple, _we need to-“_

“No, I don’t care what you need with him! Fuck you, fuck you!”

Maddie swiftly scooped Sonic into her arms. Sonic tried to fight this action, the infection making its way to the rest of his face. He pushed at Maddie’s shoulders, trying to relinquish her hold on him. “Sonic, what are you doing- stop it!” “I don’t want to get you infect-“

He broke free and fell to the floor on his back.

_Run. Run now. GO!_

He sat up and straightened. And then he went running all over the room and up the walls.

_Get rid of it, get rid of it, **get rid of it.**_

His feet caught on the sheets of the bed and faceplanted on the floor. Quickly getting back on his feet, he kept running.

_Go. Go! GO!_

The walls were starting to dent from his rapid pacing. “SONIC, SLOW DOWN!”

_Don’t slow down. Don’t slow down! Don’t…_

The exhaustion came through and he fell sideways off the wall. Maddie caught him before he hit the floor again.

“What the hell is happening in there?!” Agent Topaz yelled.

Sonic winced. Every sound felt like a bellowing into his ears.

“Okay, Sonic,” Maddie spoke in breathless worry, “I think you’re good on the infection, just _please_ rest for now. _”_ She sat down on the bed, attempting to steady the vertigo-affected hedgehog.

The agents entered the room.

“If you think you’re going to take him like that fucking robot maniac tried to do,” Wade started, backing away but still ready to fight. “you’re both fucking insane. You’re both fucking idiots!”

Stone sighed calmly and said, “No, no, we are not here to do that, Officer Whipple.”

“Oh, sure,” Wade responded, sarcastically “just like you weren’t goin’ after him when you broke in the **_fucking_** _police office with that Robotnik guy!”_

Sonic’s head jerked up. “WAIT, **WHAT?!** ”

All eyes went to Agent Stone.

Topaz stepped forward. “A-alright,” She started, hesitantly “I am guessing you encountered Agent Stone while he was working for Dr. Robotnik. But let me explain-”

**_“You better explain quick,”_** Sonic said quietly in a dark tone.

Topaz eyed him with slight reproach and opened her mouth to talk. But Stone held his hand up, signaling her to stop, and spoke up.

“Look. He is correct.” He gestured to Wade. “I _did_ work for Robotnik. But when he went AWOL, I was left to myself to reflect on my history with him. And looking back on it, I realized…” He paused and shrugged. “He was pretty much a complete dick. And now, I have no intention whatsoever of going back to him.”

“Bullshit.” Wade spat.

Stone stared at Wade reproachfully. “Well, it’s either you take my word for it or you keep acting like a little bitch.” He retorted snappily.

“Well, I choose the latter then” Wade swiftly retorted “because you’re spitting shit out of your mouth right now!”

Sonic winced again. His head and heart were pounding again. “…s-shut up.” he whispered with his voice pained. _“stop, everything’s too much…shut up…”_

He wrapped his arms around Maddie, clinging tightly to her. “It’s alright, Sonic, it’s okay.”

Topaz and Stone didn’t do anything. Wade looked back and forth between Sonic and the agents, expecting them to make a grab for the little alien. Maddie glared at the two agents as well.

Sonic had his head rested against her chest, feeling light-headed and chilly. “Maddie?” Sonic muttered weakly “I don’t feel good _…I don’t feel good.”_

Maddie stiffened. Attempting to collect herself, she took a deep breath. “Okay, how are you feeling? Any pain anywhere?”

Sonic swallowed. “M-my…chest…and my stomach…a-and my head…I f-feel cold but…feel hot too…”

“Alright,” Maddie said quietly “are you feeling dizzy or nauseated?” Sonic trembled slightly. “…little bit.”

The hedgehog started to relinquish the embrace he had on her. The room spun and he started to fall sideways. Maddie caught him quickly and held him close, cradling him in her lap. “Okay, don’t try to move too much if you’re feeling nauseous,” She started rubbing the top of his head.

Sonic’s vision was blurry. The looming feeling of fear was making him hyperventilate, and the presence of the agents in the room wasn’t helping.

He turned around in Maddies hold to look at the agents. His face had a weak yet serious expression.

“I...I don’t want you people in here, just… _just get out of here,”_ he said, voice wavering. “I-I can’t-”

“Uh, yes. Right.” Topaz responded promptly “We’ll leave you be for a bit to calm down. But once you’re better, we _will_ have to continue our discussion from earlier.”

Topaz and Stone left the room.

Wade watched them leave, glaring after them.

After hearing their footsteps fade, he walked over to the knocked-over chair next to the vanity, put it upright, and sat down. He eyed Sonic sympathetically. Sonic put his face against Maddie’s chest, avoiding Wade’s gaze.

_I’m a total disaster._

“Mom?” Sonic whispered, weakly. “Can…can people die from lack of sleep?” “No, no, they can’t.” Maddie quickly reassured him. “Do you need anything right now? Are you feeling hungry?”

Sonic nodded. Wade stood up. “I’ll go get you something from the kitchen.” He said, walking towards the door. “Yell for me if those two bastards come back.”

Sonic chuckled weakly. “Sure, Wade…”

Wade slammed the door behind him, causing Sonic to wince. Maddie’s grip on Sonic tightened slightly. Sonic curled slightly into her arms. “It’s okay, Sonic.” Maddie whispered quickly “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay as long as you need me to-”

The door opened again. Maddie and Sonic froze.

Hope peeked her face through the doorway. Her gaze fell upon Sonic and she let out a small “phew.”

“Hey, lil dude. Hi, Sonic’s mom.” She slowly walked in and leaned her back against the wall next to the door. _“You are Sonic’s mom, right?”_ she inquired. Maddie nodded slowly.

Sonic slowly looked up to Hope and forced a weak smile. “…hey, Hope.”

Hope smiled back, sympathetically. “Hey, dude. How’s that infection doing?” Sonic waved his hand, attempting a nonchalant manner. “s’no big deal, I’m good right now.” Hope nodded slightly. “You eaten anything yet? Cuz I’m pretty sure that’s why you fainted. No food for like over 12 hours and 2 hours of sleep max is not a good combination.”

_“You haven’t eaten anything in half a day?”_ Maddie said in horror. _“YEP,”_ Hope answered.

Sonic looked down at his knees. “m’sorry…”

Sonic felt small and ashamed. He felt like a piece of shit.

He had failed to do so many things. Saving people, stopping Robotnik, hell, he couldn’t even take care of himself right. He felt his heart pounding hard inside his chest again.

_God. I’m a terrible hero._

He was brought back to earth by Maddie readjusting her hold on him while she smoothed the top of his head, petting him. He felt the tears coming back.

“I’m sorry…”

“… _I’m sorry…”_

_“… **I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-“**_

_“Honey,”_ Maddie whispered, rubbing his back reassuringly “it’s alright. I’m not mad at you.” Sonic sniffled again. “Just keep taking those deep breaths…okay?”

He heard the bed creak and felt Hope’s hand on his shoulder.

His lip quivered…

…and then, he dissolved in tears.

_I’m a mess._

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you all enjoyed the sequel of Too Much so far! Not a lot of zombie plot yet but I'm very excited to get to work on the oncoming chapters! 
> 
> Please leave a comment telling me what you thought about it, it helps a lot!


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